A confrontation broke out during Sunday’s cabinet meeting, between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon (Kulanu), over advancing an arbitration law for businesses.
Netanyahu turned to Kahlon and asked him to support the bill, saying “Go with me on compulsory arbitration.”
Kahlon replied: “Even in your own party they won’t let you [have this bill].” Then Kahlon attacked Netanyahu harshly, accusing him of having trouble carrying out ideas and proposals he wants to promote.
“You are a philosopher, you only know how to talk and leave the doing to the rest of us,” Kahlon told Netanyahu bitterly, adding, “You’ve been prime minister for 10 years and you will continue to be another 20 years and you’ll still not get anything done.”
Netanyahu responded to the acrimonious remarks by blaming it on his coalition members, saying: “The coalition elements have always thwarted it, and now I want to begin preparing the law.”
Despite the exchange, Netanyahu told coalition leaders in their weekly meeting on Sunday that he did not intend to dismantle the coalition.
“I want to go with this coalition almost until the end of the term, it’s an excellent coalition,” he said.
Earlier on Sunday, Education Minister Naftali Bennett accused both Netanyahu and Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, together with the entire security apparatus of being stuck inside the box and paralyzed by the fear of losing soldiers’ lives.
Both Kahlon and Bennett are extremely frustrated these days, with the polls giving Netanyahu 33 seats and more in the next election, while their own Knesset delegations are shrinking.